The correct notion that President Bush's presidency post-9/11 saw no successful terror attacks* on American soil is simply Republican "religion" among the party faithful, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews scoffed on his February 17 program.
Matthews made his comments as he reacted to polling data which suggests that Trump's decidedly Democratic-sounding talking points regarding President Bush and 9/11 during Saturday's debate has done him no favors among GOP voters nationwide.
"Trump, I believe, went into very dangerous territory Saturday night when he said that the Iraq War was based on a lie, and even worse that 9/11 happened on George W. Bush's watch," Matthews noted. "These thoughts and statements struck at the very heart of the Republican religion, if you will, that they [the Bush administration], they believe this, kept us safe."
Of course Matthews was unable or unwilling to rattle off a list of successful Islamist terrorist attacks on American soil subsequent to 9/11 but prior to Obama's taking office. Fort Hood and San Bernardino, of course, are two which immediately spring to mind in terms of Islamist lone-wolf attacks resulting in American fatalities in the Obama era.
Here's the relevant transcript:
MSNBC
Hardball
February 17, 2016; 7:01 p.m. EasternOpening his show after teaser excerpts of Kasich interview
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Good evening, I’m Chris Matthews in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. That is my remarkable talk, I believe, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich just a few hours ago.
Kasich has just been endorsed by The State, the biggest newspaper here in South Carolina. He surged from three points to 11 points, a quadrupling of his numbers, in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll just out tonight. We'll have the rest of my candid interview with Governor Kasich coming up shortly tonight.
Let’s get to that brand new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll I mentioned on the national Republican race. It's got Cruz in front now, rising eight points from the last poll we took with Trump dropping seven. Rubio went up four points, but as I said, the other big winner is John Kasich, who also went up in his case by eight points.
All this is a clear result, I believe, of the chaotic performance last Saturday night in the Republican debate.
Trump, I believe, went into dangerous territory Saturday night, when he said the Iraq war was based on a lie. And even worse, that 9/11 happened on George W. Bush's watch. These thoughts and statements struck at the very heart of the Republican religion, if you will, that they, they believe this, kept us safe.
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* a liberal Twitter user reminded me of a 2002 lone-gunman attack at LAX at the ticket counter for the Israeli El Al airlines, but that's arguably a strike intended at an Israeli target more so, arguably, than an American military (Fort Hood) or civilian government (San Bernardino) soft target.
